Ken Gullette and InternalFightingArts.com

Hi all,

I did a search on "Ken Gullette" and "InternalFightingArts.com" and didn't come up with anything, so I thought I would try here. His site offers a "free 10-part course" where people sign up and are emailed a video outlining ideas on internal arts.

I'll post a couple links below. One is on "whole body movement". Here he discusses, about half-way through, an idea about "loading the lower back" and emitting kinetic force kind through a kind of wave-like motion from the feet up to the hands.

The other is a discussion on the dan t'ien and the kua. I'm not educated on this stuff, but it looks like the use of the lower abdomen and related core muscles to affect rotation while using the crease where the legs meet the torso to affect weight distribution in movement.

Can someone provide some perspective on this? Does this guy know what he's talking about, or are his ideas suspect?

He knows what he is talking about. Are you looking for web based training? Because that's what that site is for. If so, take the 10 day trial.

Otherwise find an instructor in the flesh. The stuff on that site isn't really standardized. So you are learning his way of doing things. If you train that way you will be learning his style but also not having any feedback if you are doing it correctly. So if you do that for say a year and the go to a school, you will find that you just waisted a year.

I think I might pick up a DVD or two from the site instead of committing to the trial. Mostly I'm just curious about the ideas he's presented.

I had never heard of using the core muscles to generate power in the manner he describes. The discussion on dan t'ien rotation, for example, seems to be a set of ideas on how to adjust one's center of gravity for momentum and explosive motion. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but that's the impression I'm getting.

Hello from Ken

Hi,
Actually, the ideas that I'm presenting in my website, DVDs and instruction are the internal body mechanics taught to me by my teachers, who were disciples of Chen Xiaowang and studied intensively with the Chen family. The body mechanics I describe are not taught very much in America because they weren't understood until the past 15 years or so. And when internal artists began discovering "real" internal mechanics, a lot of people got angry because it wasn't mystical and they refused to listen.

No internal arts are "standardized." From teacher to teacher -- even between brothers such as Chen Xiaowang and Chen Xiaoxing -- methods vary in performing a particular movement, but the internal principles and the body mechanics remain the same.

So it's a lot more than using the core muscles -- that's part of dan t'ien rotation -- but internal strength that's required for good taiji, xingyi and bagua also depend on maintaining the ground path and peng jin (essential elements in every movement), silk-reeling (which is a physical skill, not metaphysical), whole-body movement, dan t'ien rotation and opening/closing the kua.

I've been stunned during the past 14 years at how many tai chi players who have been doing this for decades can't move in a way that generates relaxed strength. It has been forgotten in most Yang taiji. But it's very much alive in Chen style and America has some very good teachers.

So check out the free lessons. The body mechanics and techniques I teach will put you ahead of the game in almost any internal arts class -- and I've had disciples of Chen masters tell me that they have learned from my Tai Chi Fighting Applications DVDs. I show the body mechanics behind 400 fighting applications from the Laojia Yilu form.

I had a "school" for a while but moved and closed it. I lost a job in 2008 and decided to start the online school because I had been asked by people around the world how they could study with no teachers nearby. It's true, however, that you might be able to learn to a certain extent online, but you really do need hands on corrections, so I don't call it a school as much as I do a resource. I have students of other teachers, and actually some teachers are enrolled. One guy in Hawaii said that after doing the 10 part free course, he wondered "why the hell hasn't anyone told me this before now?"

It's a damn good question, and I felt the same way the day I was introduced to Chen style. I had studied Yang for over a decade and even won a national title at the AAU Kung Fu Championships and had no clue what the art was about. In my instruction, I try to teach people what I've learned so they can cut short their own development time. But it's still a very long process that requires more work than most people are willing to do. :)

By the way, I also have studied with some of the Chen masters -- hosted Chen Xiaoxing in my home, had private lessons from Chen Xiaowang, Chen Xiaoxing, Chen Ziqiang, and also learned from Ren Guangyi and Chen Bing. But my primary instructors were Jim and Angela Criscimagna and Mark Wasson. I began studying martial arts 39 years ago this month and I am not, and never will be, a master. I intend to just keep improving and passing along what I learn. Instead of a bricks and mortar school, mine is on the Internet. :) I worked in TV news for 22 years and have the ability to do the videos faster and at better quality than most people.

I did your 10 day free trial a few years ago. I also have a couple of your Dvds. They are really good. I've been doing Chen Pan Ling 99 form for a few years. And did get a lot from your silk reeling stuff. Really cool.

What I meant by it not being standardized is simply that it is hard to go from one instructor to the next without having to re-learn stuff. So its best to learn the style you want from the beginning rather than switching around.

Reality

The internal arts are traditionaly of course Taijiquan, XingyiChuan, Baguazhang, and Lui he ba fa.

The difference between "internal" and "external" is really not a fair and accurate distinction physically. Everyone uses both their bone structure / internal body parts, as well as the external, muscles etc. It's unavoidable.

What I have found however is the the internal arts are more fluid than others, can be more powerful, as well as more efficient ect. IF trained properly, and this is a big if.

Since Tai Chi became a new age health dance, combat viable material has all but disappeared.

Someone mentioned in the thread that external and internal arts meet up eventually. This is simply not true, Internal arts at least start where the external end. One is more than a step above the other...it's just physics and mechanics.

Whatever you train, one must do extensive two person work, be willing to touch hands and get out of their comfort zone.

What I have found however is the the internal arts are more fluid than others, can be more powerful, as well as more efficient ect. IF trained properly, and this is a big if.

This is typically what ALL IMAers claim.

Since Tai Chi became a new age health dance, combat viable material has all but disappeared.

Nope. You have to know who to train with and where. It is just uncommon, but it never "all but disappeared."

Someone mentioned in the thread that external and internal arts meet up eventually. This is simply not true, Internal arts at least start where the external end. One is more than a step above the other...it's just physics and mechanics.

Proof without conjecture. Physics and mechanics are both external and internal.

Oh and LOL@Rivington. Thanks, I was debating on a cull. It is now at an 85% chance.